Starting to introduce potty training to a 21 month old boy.

Eliz - posted on 09/06/2010

My little one is starting to know when he has to potty. A few days ago he said potty and when I put him on it he went. He still needs constant reminders because he is just starting to figure it out.

Jennifer - posted on 09/06/2010

I have 2 questions. #1 Are you all putting the potty in the bathroom or in the room that your child spends most time in? #2 Are the "fun" potty's a distraction during potty training? Thanks!

Colleen - posted on 08/25/2010

We too are working on the potty. Right now, he can tell me just after he has pooped, but at least he knows that he pooped. Peeing is different because boys don't have the same feeling down there as girls do. I've heard that they can't tell the feeling of peeing, but more the feeling of something getting wet. Anyway, right now we have a convertable potty chair. He can sit on it like a regular potty chair, but he also likes to sit on the converted part on our big potty. I can't leave him alone on that though because it doesn't stay on the seat well and he can easliy fall off.
He likes to flush and wave to the poop even if we put it in the potty from his diaper. I try to set him on the potty after he's had a meal or right after he wakes and especially before bed. These are the best times for me to catch some pee action and then he sees/knows what he is doing. It'll take a while for any body control on these functions and that's why I won't really push the issue til he is two or two 1/2. But the convertablel potty chair is a good idea because your child can be comfortable either on their own potty or sitting on the big potty and not feeling like they will fall in.

Melissa - posted on 08/24/2010

We use clap and do a "potty dance" after our 21 mo old uses the potty. She started about 3 mo ago and after a few weeks got bored w/ the whole potty thing. We started giving her "potty treats" after she would go and that helped a lot! We only used 100% fruit strips for the "potty treats" that way it is okay to get them a few times a day vs. candy. She is doing great and uses the potty most of the day now. Good luck everyone!

Tina - posted on 08/23/2010

My son is 21 months and I started introducing him to the potty when he was 18 months. I have a padded seat for the big potty. He has been doing pretty well. He has just started showing the signs for needing to pee and goes several times a day on the potty. We still miss out on the poops once in a while. He also likes to close the lid, flush and wash his hands after every time. He really enjoys being a good helper.:)

Doneisha - posted on 08/23/2010

I have started potty training with my 21 month old girl. She has the concept; and luckily, the day care is helping. We are letting her playat her own tune until she begins to talk better. But she takes off her diaper when it's wet and says "peepee" when it's really poo! So let your son tell you when he's ready tolearn the rules.

Dawn - posted on 08/23/2010

I have 2 kids, one is 8 and one is 21 months. My 8 year old son was 3 before he showed any signs of wanting to potty train. He could care less. Now my daughter has been interested in the process for the past few months. It started out with when mommy went potty, she would sit on the stool beside me. I have gotten her a potty and she wants to sit on it and try. She hasn't peed or pooped in in yet but give her time.

Now...one thing to remember is that kids usually don't begin to register body functions with potty until about 26 months. I know everyone wants to have their kids potty trained at age 2, but unless the brain/body are corresponding, it may take a while. Don't stress. I let my daughter run naked, with panties, with a diaper and although she is interested in it, she's not ready.

To all those moms who have kids potty trained at 2, LUCKY!!! :)

ps. my daughter too takes off her diaper after a nap or in the morning. I think with her it's a new thing and she can just do it. Nothing to do with the potty.

Good luck everyone!

Melissa - posted on 08/22/2010

my son came to me and told me he had to poo and i set him on the potty and he pooed all by himself but he loves sitting on his potty chair. we have a cusion and a potty chair. i think it makes training easier because he is more inclined to use them when he decides what he wants to use and its rarely the same thing twice in a row lol.

Natarlia - posted on 08/22/2010

my boy likes to sit on his potty whenever me or my hubby uses the toilet. we got one of those musical potties where once they have done the deed it will play a tune then he gets all excited and we reward him with a treat either a lolly or sticker depending on the deed. I think it is most important to have the potty there and encourage them but DO NOT force the issue or they may get turned off or become scared, i worked in childcare for a few years prior to havin my boy and we seen it alot. Boys are also slower with potty training than girls generally but he will let you know when he is ready. as i said have a potty there for him if he wants to use it if not dont stress, it will happen when he is comfortable.

Darlene - posted on 08/21/2010

I started my son who is now 21 months toilet training at 14 months, but first just started after meals and most of the time he did go even did number 2's, at 17 months I brought a cushion toilet seat to sit on bigger toilet and if im home all day we will just wear underwear and sometimes have accidents but he lets me know, I have found if his had a big drink I have to put him on the toilet every 30 mintues about 3 times in a row and after every hour, he usually grabs on himself but you have to be quick when he wants to do wee, with number 2's he starts to grunt. I know his ready last week while he was having a nap he peed in pull up and didn't like it so he took wet pull up of. did i mention im doing this in winter too, hopefully he be at least day trained by summer.

Cheten - posted on 08/20/2010

My son refuses to sit on the potty. But he does go pee. Sometimes he says pee..only after he is done peeing..what do I do??? He will be 2 in Nov.

Annie - posted on 08/20/2010

My son just recently turned 21 months, we had bought him a small potty, a fisher price one that looks like a frog from target, but anyway we bought that for him like around 18 months and just kinda showed him that he sits and we talked about what he does on it.... a while went by and nothing really he sat on it every now and then and peed. Now he will tell us when he has to "butt" and we take him up there to do his business and he just gets super excited to flush it down the big toilet, and when he sits on his small one he will point to our toilet and start saying "butt" and we talk about how he has to go in his toilet first to be able to put everything in the big one to be able to flush it....i know this may not help much but it is my experience

Amy - posted on 08/20/2010

I think 21mo is a great age to start. You will see the signs. Does he take his/her diaper off when it's wet or right after they've gone, say potty and they did go potty in the diaper. Shoot mine has actually brought me her diapers and wipes when she's had a poopie. Now that to me says she's ready. She will sit on the potty and wipe. But, she doesn't actually go. I'll put her in a diaper and she within minutes goes in her diaper. So I know we are close!!!! I think you just need to go with the flow, you'll figure out the best and easiest ways!!

Katy - posted on 08/20/2010

My son will be 21 months, and he has a 4 yr old sister, so he always is interested in going in and watching her go potty. He just recently started showing real interest in sitting on the potty (toddler or regular one) before bath time and has been pee-peeing a few times before and after bath and last night he said' "I poo-poo" and sure enough he did in the potty and I was so excited and clapped for him and made a big deal that he is a big boy now. Today he also told me he wanted to poo-poo in the potty and he did twice. I think we may really be getting it and I haven't even been pushing the issue. I am very proud of him. My daughter actually was harder to potty train and still wakes up wet in the morning, probably partly my fault for not cutting her fluids more in the evening. Each child is sooo different.

Louisa - posted on 08/20/2010

So pleased this thread was started, I have a feeling my son will be 5 before he starts training. He has NO concept whatsoever. Was hoping watchin his 6 yr old sister would help, but he still doesn't have a clue what a potty is even for.
For the Record my daghter trained ridiculously easily with a potty "throne" that plays music when anything happens in it, plus stickers stuck to potty. 3 days and she was dry, give it a try but try not to stress, no harm at all in waiting until he's a little older :-) (this is my mantra for my son btw)

Cynthia - posted on 08/19/2010

Hey girls, ok so Kolt is 21 mnths and we've been playing with this since 17 mnths also. He's great going pee but now I can't seen to get #2 out of him??? Confused cause I just can't seem to catch him and my sitters are helping much! When we started though I would pour a little bit of water on him wee wee and WOW he just started going! I think I'm going to try the undies though just to see how that intrigues him:) He's not talking good yet though so it makes it tuff also! Good luck Mommies!!! I'm sooo up for any suggestions on the number 2 though!

Kristina - posted on 08/18/2010

My little boy is 20 months old and i want to start potty training him because hes always taking his diaper off when i dont have shorts on him. but i will sit him on the toliet before bathtime and he will never go but it never fails right after i take him off he will pee on the floor or in the tub. so i dont know if it is because he is not ready or what is going on.

Robin - posted on 08/18/2010

I am going to sound the opposite of everyone here. With my now 5 yr old, we started potty training him at about 18 months by sitting a potty out and getting him used to it. Around 2 we seriously tried it. I tried everything, timing it after meals and naps, everything and nothing seemed to work. We did have a few successes, but it was just so frustrating! We continued this frustration all the way until he was 3, when he finally pee trained. Now poop training was a whole different story (took even longer)! Anyway, my now 21 month old boy I've been thinking about bringing out the potty to introduce it to him, but I'm not going to even start trying with him until closer to 3. Only if he really shows interrests will I start earlier. It was just too frustrating. We had the potty seat (just a simple one) and the cushion on the big potty. They both worked well...once things started rolling that is. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but some boys do take longer, my nephew was the same. He was about 3 before it clicked.

Jill - posted on 08/18/2010

I am trying to get started with potty training, but I work 4 days a week. I feel like I cant be consistent when Im not there. How do working moms do this, should I take a potty to the babysitter? She loves to sit on the potty, but not for very long. She will say "potty" and run to the bathroom and sit on it. She also loves to wipe. She has only peed on the potty once, so Im not sure she gets what the potty chair is for. Any suggestions? Oh yeah, she is 21 months.

Bobbie - posted on 08/16/2010

try the terry toweling underwear or just normal underpants they soon get the idea that they are wet and it doesn't feel nice (means more washing for you though) disposable nappies etc pulls a lot of the moisture away so that's prob why they don't seem bothered by it but having wet pants bothers them. Remember though he might not be entirely ready for toilet training

Stephanie - posted on 08/16/2010

elizabeth thank you....and i try to reward him like ppl say...i think he knows he is suppose to use the potty because he will sit on it and right after hes done he pees in his pull ups...my biggest problem is hes never been a baby that cared if he had a wet diaper and its the same way with his pull ups...does anyone have any ideas

Waxela - posted on 08/16/2010

My little guy has just started to use the potty. He is 21 months and we use the DVD "Elmo's Potty Time" and we have several toddler books about the subject. He is very interested, and he often just sits on the potty for fun. We always celebrate as if he has had a successful potty time, and two times he had pooped in his potty. We try to make it fun and rewarding, and we even celebrate for going on the floor next to the potty, which he has done a few times!

Bobbie - posted on 08/16/2010

my 21mth old likes to sit on the toilet (we have one of those seats with a ladder so they can climb up themselves (got it when I was TT my eldest) she doesn't do anything except want to wipe herself haha. I didn't start my eldest til she was about 2.5 cause it was summer and she could run around with no pants on and she worked it out pretty quickly so I plan on doing the same with my 21mth old wait til it warms up again and do the same thing

Eliz - posted on 08/16/2010

Stephanie, I think its great he is willing to sit there. Getting them used to sitting on the potty is the first step. Try putting him on the potty at regular intervals. Also make sure you are giving him lots of praise every time he does pee in the potty. That showed my little one that it was a good thing he was doing.

Stephanie - posted on 08/16/2010

my son will sit on the potty and has used it a few times but most of the time he jus sits there..does anyone have any ideas for me

Eliz - posted on 08/16/2010

Just last Thursday I bought my little one some "Cars" underwear and he loves them. I use them as kind of a bribe. I tell him he can wear his underwear if he goes pee pee in the potty and he usually does. Then I let him run around in the underwear because I can still see when he needs to go potty. Its not padded like diapers or pull ups. It works great. Also when my friend was babysitting him she let him wear the underwear and took him to the potty ever 15 or so minutes. He stayed dry the whole day and peed in the potty several times.

Crystal - posted on 08/15/2010

My son is 21 months old and we actually started putting him on the potty at 17 months old...only after naps and meals when I noticed he hadn't wet his diaper yet. It was going well, but then he got sick (awful virus) and had chronic diarrhea for a month and a half. After vigorous tests and diet changes it finally resolved, but that along with the birth of my new son, we've really been set back. My hubby travels so it won't be easy to stay on top of my 21 month old while taking care of a newborn, but we are going to start trying again...this is how:
We just purchased a "potty monkey". You can find them online. I think there's an Elmo version. It has a timer and every __ minutes it says I have to go potty. You keep it's toilet in the bathroom and run him there to sit on it (and it's sensor). Then it makes a tinkle sound and you flush his potty. If you don't make it in time he says he had an accident and we'll try again next time. It's a good timer for us to ask him, too. My hubby and I always announce when we have to go potty and let him follow us in if he's interested. Plus, we will still ask him periodically if he has to go, along w/ checking his diapers after periods of time to see if they're still dry (this is a good time to take him) The way I got him to "go" the first time on the potty I used some toilet paper and tickled right above his "peepee" and he went immediately. Always say 'good job - going peepee/potty/whatever' right when they go.

Kimberly - posted on 08/14/2010

I'm glad you posted this and I'll be interested to see if other moms are starting yet, or how they did it with older kids, because I'm at a bit of a loss. I do put my daughter on the potty first thing in the morning and right after naps, but she fights me and doesn't want to sit still long enough for anything to possibly happen. We use a potty chair, because she won't have anything to do with the cushion on the toilet..

Eliz - posted on 08/13/2010

Ok since I recently started potty training mine I hope I can help. Mine too squats to poop and thats a perfect place to start. Anytime you see him squat rush him to the potty. The type of potty thing you use is up to what feels best for you and him. I perfer to use the seat on the big potty so I only have to train once. It took me some time to figure out when my boy had to pee because I never saw any signs but he started showing signs about a week after I started putting him on the potty. I let him go naked at home so that I can better see when he has to go. When he needs to pee soon he tugs on his penis and testicles which he can't do when he is wearing a diaper or pull-ups. Some people like to use a schedule type training: put him on the potty ever hour, after meals and after naps. And the 4 year old that wants to help is perfect. Have her tell you anytime she sees him squat so you can rush him to the potty. Also once he develops a sign that he needs to pee tell her what to look for and let you know if she sees it. And if you let him go naked she can tell you if he starts to pee on the floor when you're not looking. And when he does go in the potty use lots of praise. I like to say YAY and clap and sometimes I sing and dance so he knows he did a good job. Your daughter can help with that too y clapping and telling her brother good job and YAY he went pee pee in the potty. Hope this helps.